


Retainer's Woes

by EdamamiTomoe



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Tsundere, i'm honestly not sure what to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 20:04:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16456367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdamamiTomoe/pseuds/EdamamiTomoe
Summary: Your Au Ra retainer's acting unusual, and you go to check up on her.





	Retainer's Woes

Your favourite Au Ra retainer has always been fairly prompt with her ventures, delivering your sharks for alchemizing some shark oil on time, but today, she’s oddly late. Really late, actually, or at least late enough for you to head out to Summerford to search for her yourself. It’s a relief she’s unharmed, simply sitting along the coast and fishing, with a pile of silver sharks that you had assigned her to fish for you. 

Before you actually approach her to ask her what was wrong, you take a moment to do the usual: eye up her lovely figure from behind, your eyes especially trained on her rather shapely derriere, her scaly tail coming out from the little hole in the back of her breeches. It’s probably really unprofessional for you to be into your retainer like that, but she does always act really tsundere about it, so you figured she’s probably into it, so you never really minded that.

As you approach her though, she seems to have noticed your presence, and turns her head to face you, her fishing hat almost obscuring her eyes. Noticing it’s you, she returns her attention to fishing without a word. Huh, unusual, she’s usually a lot more flustered than this around you.

“Hey, you didn’t report back three hours ago, so I thought you got into some kind of trouble.” You say, kinda hesitant to actually go forward, not really sure what’s wrong, with her being oddly cold and distant. “I’m really glad that you didn’t get hurt or anything, but what’s wrong? You’re acting kind of weird.”

“Eh. Thought I deserv’ a bit o’ time off.” She shrugs, still giving you the cold shoulder, but this time for real, not in a tsundere way. Then, pointing at the pile of silver sharks, she says, “Take yer shite and quit leerin’ at me arse.”

What? Whoa, what? This is a drastic change from her usual demeanor, where she’s all flustered and blushy around you, with definitely not the accent. Is this really the adorable tsundere Au Ra retainer you know and work with?

Seeming to have noticed your surprise, she turns to look at you with a scowl, and spits out the piece of grass she had been chewing on, “What? Ye can't seriously expect me to humor yer fetishes all the time, can ye? Gimme a break, this shite’s exhausting, ye know?”

“Huh? So the whole tsundere thing… that was an act?” You feel like you really should have seen it coming, since the whole thing was so cliche, but you’re so into it that you just took it as it is, without ever considering that the whole thing might have been an act. In a way, it kinda hurt, knowing she was only pretending to like you. “I… I guess I should have seen it coming. But why?”

Seeming annoyed by your question, your retainer stares out at the water again and growls, “Whaddya think? Ye kiddin’ me? Ye think it’s so easy fer fishers like me to get hired as a retainer? C’mon, ye can’t possibly be oblivious to how little demand there is for folks like me. Sure, some stuff like sharks sell well cos’ o’ shark oil, but oth’rwise there’s like no demand for most catch ye find in the sea. O’course I’d hafta put on a good act t’get hired, don’t even pretend ye didn’t hire me cos’ yer into it.”

Well… yeah, admittedly you did actually hire her because you find her really adorable, and kinda hot, and also because you really liked her being tsundere. But still! “H-hey, that’s not entirely true, you know I did actually really need a talented fisher like you, you know how I’m trying to dominate the fish and shark oil market.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Your retainer sighs, and reels in a gudgeon, which you think is just for leisure now, rather than for work, “Doesn’t change that I had to put on the act, ye know? Ye have any idea how hard it was t’get hired as a retainer as a fisher? Ye adventurin’ folks always prioritize miners an’ botanists over us fishers, which, ye know what? Fine, that’s fine. But then there’s that stupid unspoken rule where adventurers like, don’t wanna hire retainers who do sumthing better than they? And with how littl’ adventurin’ folks take on fishing, nobody’s hiring fishin’ retainers.”

Your retainer pauses to exhale, after the rather long rant. You aren’t really quite sure what to do or say to help her feel better, and you didn’t wanna say something wrong and make her feel worse either, so. You just keep listening.

“An’ is just tirin’, ye know? I’m jus so tired. I wish I didn’t hafta act like a lovestruck weirdo jus t’get hired.” She sighs as she casts the line again, “Hey, is it fine if I jus, like, take sum time off or something? Or at least get paid also for being yer lil’ fetish toy or whatever? Cause I’m jus so tired.”

Taking a seat next to your retainer, much to her surprise, you bring out your own fishing rod and cast the line. Giving her a reassuring smile, you say, “Come now, you don’t have to keep acting like that if you don’t want to. Like, the flirting’s fun and all, but if you’re really not into it, I’d rather you not keep doing it. Like, honestly? Doing business with you has been far more fulfilling than the silly little bouts of flirting we do. You gathering raw materials, me processing them, and us making a profit together at the hawker’s alley, those experiences mean so much more to me. If you want us to keep things strictly professional, that’s completely fine with me, I’d rather you be comfortable in my employ, than you feeling like you have to act a certain way to keep your job.”

As you spoke, your retainer turns to look at you, at first in slight distrust, but then with a heartfelt gaze. Tearing her eyes away from you and staring back out at the waters, she asks, in a much softer voice than before, “...Ye really mean it?”

“Yeah, of course.” You give her a bright smile, “Of course I mean it. I really do like working with you, you know that?”

“...Hmph, I’m sure.” Although the Au Ra’s tone turned back to her grumpy tone, a slight blush on her cheeks betray her emotions. “Don’t get too hung up on it though, ye hear? I’m only doin’ this for th’ pay, it’s… it’s not like I like you or anything.”

When she realizes that she’s falling into her habit again, your retainer blushes, and pulls the brim of her hat down a bit, failing to cover up the redness of her cheeks. You giggle a bit, but you decide to leave her alone on that. 

“What are ye still doin’ here anyways?” Your retainer asks, trying to change the topic so she can stop being embarrassed.

“I just thought I’d spend a bit of time with you.” You explain, “I guess I kinda missed you, so I wanna fish with you for a bit. ...If you don’t mind, that is.”

Once again, your retainer gives you a look, and then turns away with a flustered pout. In a cranky, but not unaffectionate, voice, she growls, “...Yeah, it’s fine.”

Like that, you end up spending the day with your retainer. Even though it’s clear she’s no longer going to act all cutesy and whatnot with her, it seems like the tsundere is still a part of her character, no matter how tsundere she is about it.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like that female Au Ra retainers' independent personality means they'll put on a show of being tsundere for the pay, so I decided to write a thing based on it. I was pretty distracted while I wrote this so this is probably pretty bad.


End file.
